Rubble Series

The Rubble Series began while hiking the Teufelsberg and coming across a piece of rubble that had emerged from the ground. Further research indicated that several “rubble mountains” (Schuttberg) exist in Germany, built with the huge amounts of rubble left behind after World War II. Considering the question of what happens to rubble, I began the drawings as an investigation into what remains after a building or structure has been destroyed. A home that contains individualized details and artifacts, or a shop that one frequents daily, are instantly anonymized by the effect of bombing. Pieces of rubble become indistinguishable from the former whole: What could have been the wall or the roof or the floor is a generic shard.

Continuing the research of these questions online, I use the images that emerge from keyword searches like rubble, bombing and debris. These images are put through a process of pixelation and reduction, thereby emphasizing their digital provenance. This is a copy of a copy of a copy. I am not a firsthand witness to the creation of rubble. I’m encountering it at a safe and reserved distance that the grainy quality of the mark-making reflects.